In a Victorian society fascinated by spiritualists, something wicked sinks its claws in from the other side. Odessa is a psychic; her mother, the Great Madame Elena, is a fraud. After a séance goes terribly wrong and a woman ends up dead, an evil force slips into the land of the living.Though Odessa and her mother try to outpace the rumors spreading, they can't escape the danger that has taken residence within Odessa herself. When Odessa is shouldered with the responsibility of the Great Madame Elena’s business, she starts to lose control of the spirit world, and she can’t afford to make another mistake. Asked to open the door to the other side again, Odessa witnesses a brutal murder that hints at black magic and is faced with a choice: risk her life for freedom from her mother, or go on living a life of servitude. If she goes into a trance again, will she be able to maintain control?

Odessa is a psychic. Odessa’s mom, The Great Madame Elena, doesn’t truly have the gift to talk to spirits like Odessa does. She keeps Odessa around to “help” , so she can keep making money telling people their futures. One night at a séance, something goes horribly wrong. Odessa stops what was happening. As Odessa and her mom try to outrun all the rumors from that night, they finally find a nice town to stop in. After that night, Odessa wants to stick to only palm and tarot readings. Then an extremely wealthy family asks to have a séance. Odessa tries to protest, but her mother tells her that if she earns enough money, she will let her go. Reluctantly, she agrees, and hopes that maybe she can finally be free. Odessa arrives for the séance. Warren, Theresa, Benjamin… She really wants to help them. But there is something really wrong that she can’t see initially.

I liked Odessa she knows how to make the best of troubling and uncomfortable situations, she has very real concerns and desires, and she’s clever. I enjoyed seeing how she would handle different situations, and she made me laugh out loud on more than one occasion.

The rest of the characters were well-developed, especially for such a short book which made every single page of this story enjoyable to read. The story was intriguing, and it had that familiar but different feeling about it that I thought was enjoyable. It was a wonderful take on magic and death. I would recommend this book to anyone who is into magic and psychics. The book is also short kind of like a novella so it’s easy to just breeze through.